Chemoxy’s IRONMAN 70.3

Posted on August 11, 2017

An Ironman 70.3, also known as a Half Ironman, is one of a series of long distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. At the weekend, Neil McLoughlin, Chemoxy’s Finance Director, entered and successfully completed the Gdynia 70.3 near Gdansk, Poland. The “70.3” refers to the total distance in miles (113.0 km) covered in the race, consisting of a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run. Each distance of the swim, bike, and run segments is exactly half the distance of a full Ironman triathlon and the 70.3 series culminates each year with its own World Championship competition.

Gdynia is a seaport town on the south coast of the Baltic Sea and Neil travelled to Poland as part of his race preparation for the IRONMAN World Championship in October in Kona, Hawaii . The Gdynia 70.3 is famous for the enthusiastic atmosphere and thousands of spectators line the route to cheer on the athletes. The finish is near the city beach but before crossing the line athletes have to swim in Gdansk Bay, run through the busiest streets of Gdynia as well as facing the challenging 90km-long bike loop through the picturesque Kashubia region.

Neil completed the Gdynia course in 4:46 following a 34 min swim ( 1.9k ), 2:30 bike ( 90k ) and a 1 :34 half marathon – finishing as the first British guy in his category.

There were also 50 qualifying slots available for the 2018 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in South Africa and Neil was successful in securing a place for the race which is the pinnacle of the 70.3 series. The race will be held in Nelson Mandela Bay early September 2018 and it is the first time an IRONMAN World Championship event will be held on the African continent. More than 6,000 athletes from over 100 global qualifying events are expected to compete.

However, next up for Neil is the IRONMAN World Championship Kailua-Kona in Hawaii on October 14^th – swim 2.4-miles, cycle 112 miles, run 26.2-miles in that order without a break …………and then home for month end.